Wrist watch adapter



March 31, 1936. s. w. PERRY 2,035,979

WRI ST WATCH ADAPTER Filed May 3, 1935 I f I I I I I z g a Patented Mar. 31, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WRIST WATCH ADAPTER Application May 3, 1935, Serial No. 19,746

10 Claims.

The present invention has to do in general with watches and relates more particularly to watches commonly known as pocket watches, as carried in the outside coat pocket in connection with a flexible guard pendant from the adjacent lapel of the coat, and my primary object is to enlarge the field of use of such lapel guards by means adapting wrist watches to be carried in the above manner so as to be as readily accessible and as easily manipulated in use as the commonly used pocket watch.

As well favored in present use on account of their pleasing appearance and wide range of ornamentation, lapel guards, whose upper ends cooperate with the usual buttonhole of a coat lapel, have their lower ends formed, or provided, with means to engage the bow of a pocket watch, and it is an object of the present invention to provide anadapter to which the guard may be just as readily attached as it is to the ordinary watch bow, and which adapter has wrist watch connecting means of a nature applicable to practically all wrist watches of present-day manufacture without regard to the shapes of the cases, and without requiring special formations or attaching means on the cases other than now provided.

It is well known that wrist watches at the present time, while varying substantially in size and shape, are all more or less standard in respect to the strap or bracelet attaching means, employing, as they do, strap or pintle bars between lugs apertured to receive the spring-extended pintles of such bars. Further, since the spacing of the lugs, and consequently the lengths of the bars, among the various makes of wrist watches, varies but little and to a decidedly less degree than the shapes of the watch cases, my invention proposes an adapter consisting of a member to which a lapel guard may be readily and conveniently attached, said member having means adapted for positioning between the watch case lugs and to receive the pintle bars whereby to thus effectively provide for suspension of a wrist watch from a lapel or similar guard in a manner adaptable to substantially all wrist watches of present-day manufacture.

With the above general statement and objects in mind, further and more specific objects as well as the resulting advantages of the invention will be better understood and more thoroughly appreciated from the following detail description thereof and by reference to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, and wherein,

Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the practical use of a lapel guard.

Figure 2 is an enlarged front view of the guard with a wrist watch carried thereby, by virtue of the adapter constituting this invention.

Figure 3 is a detail perspective view of the wrist watch adapter, removed.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary top plan view, showing one end of the watch case partly broken away and in section along with a portion of the adapter.

Figure 5 is a detail partial vertical section taken on line 55 of Figure 4, and,

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 2, showing the obverse face of the wrist watch and a somewhat difierent type of guard.

Referring now to these figures, the practical use of lapel guards is well illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing in which a strap type of guard is generally indicated at A with one end portion apertured at lengthwise spaced points as at a and adapted to be extended forwardly through the buttonhole b of a coat lapel B above the upper outside pocket C of the coat.

That portion of the guard thus extended through the buttonhole b is doubled back onto the guard A and extended through a buckle a, with the tongue of the buckle entering a selected aperture a, in order to adjust the guard as may be desired by the user, permitting a watch, carried by the guard to drop to the bottom of the pocket C so that its weight will not tend to pull the lapel B downwardly or otherwise impair the neat and pleasing appearance of the cooperating parts of the assembly.

As best seen in Figure 2, the lower end of the guard A carries a ring a from which a snap hook a is suspended with a swivel a so that the snap hook may be conveniently engaged with the bow of a pocket watch and the latter disposed in the pocket C with its dial or crystal face turned toward the wearer.

Instead of the strap type of guard, any of the known guards for this purpose may be used, for instance, fabric strap or cords, variously ornamented, as well as plaited leather as shown at D in Figure 6, and in any such guards, a button (1 may be utilized at one end to extend through the lapel buttonhole 1) instead of a strap end. In any such instance the watch will be engaged and held by a snap hook 11, preferably with a swivel d In order that a wrist watch may be carried by such a guard, my invention proposes a wrist watch adapter which, in order to be readily applicable to various styles of wrist watches, consists essentially of a pair of tubular watch attaching members I and II, each of a length adapting the same to be extended between the spaced apart end lugs l2 of .a wrist watch E. These lugs l2 are commonly apertured to receive the spring-extended pintles l3 projecting endwise from a strap or pintle bars I4 which in the ordinary use of such watches, serve as connecting members for the ends of the wrist strap, bracelet or ribbon. The tubular members It and H of my adapter are made of suificient inside diameter to receive the bars It and are inserted thereon after removal of the usual wrist encircling means in a manner which is well known and involves pressing one of the pintles l3 inwardly of each of the bars.

The tubular members In and H are for the above attaching purposes suitably fixed to the inner faces of the side extensions l5 and I6 of a generally U-shaped frame I! formed centrally of its bight portion or cross bar with an eye I81 to receive the snap hook of a lapel guard as first above described. The described fixation of the tubular attaching members I0 and I l to the frame I! may be accomplished by soldering, brazing or other methods, and the frame itself may be formed of any suitable material of a self-supporting nature such as a wire preferably having suflicient temper to avoid ready bending and deformation.

In the event the frame of the adapter is thus formed of wire, the latter may be formed with a single coil intermediate its ends to form the eye I8, and it is obvious that the inherent springiness of the material will permit the tubular members I0 and H to be spread apart sufficiently to clear the watch lugs l2 and let into the space between said lugs. Thus with the pintles l3 retracted and the bars l4 within the tubular attaching members 10 and I I, it becomes an easy matter to effect the connection of the adapter to the wrist watch with the result that the latter is securely held in the adapter frame I1.

It is obvious from the foregoing that having assembled the adapter with a wrist watch E in 4 the manner above described and having con- '1 the field of use of the latter and permits of their employment by anyone having a watch whether it be of the pocket type or wrist type.-

What is claimed is:

1. An adapter for a wrist watch of the type having diametrically opposed pintle bars in connection with end lugs, said adapter providing for use of said watch with a suspension guard and consisting of a member to span one edge of the Watch between its pintle bars, said member having a single central guard attaching portion and also having side extensions to be positioned along the pintle bars, each of said side extensions having means to extend around, and to be engaged by, one of the pintle bars.

2. A suspension guard adapter for wrist watches of the type having diametrically opposed pintle bars, said adapter consisting of a guardcarried member of a size to span one edge portion of a watch between its pintle bars and having end extensions to be positioned adjacent to said pintle bars, and a connecting element carried by each of said extensions to receive one of said pintle bars.

3. A suspension guard adapter for a wrist watch of the type having diametrically opposed pintle bars, said adapter consisting of a generally U-shaped member having a guard attaching element intermediate its ends and having end extensions to be positioned adjacent to said pintle bars and elements carried by said extensions for receiving the pintle bars.

4. A guard attaching adapter for a wrist watch of the type having diametrically opposed pintle bars in detachable relation, said .adapter having end extensions and being of a size to position said extensions adjacent to the pintle bars of the watch, and tubular members secured to said extensions for receiving the said pintle bars.

5. A guard attaching adapter for a wrist watch of the type having diametrically opposed detachable pintle bars, said adapter consisting of a generally U-shaped frame having a centrally located eye .and extensions at its ends and being, of a size to position said extensions adjacent to the pintle bars of the watch, and tubular members carried by said extensions for receiving the said pintle bars.

6. An adapter for a wrist watch of the type having detachable, diametrically opposed pintle bars, said adapter having spaced. apart tubular portions and being of a size to position said tubular portions around the pintle bars of the watch, and said adapter also having a centrally located guard receiving means.

7. An adapter for wrist watches of the type having removable pintle bars, said adapter consisting of a U-shaped frame formed of wire having a single central loop constituting an eye, and rigid tubular attaching members fixed to and extending inwardly from the side extensions of said 'frame to receive the pintle bars of a wrist watch.

8. An adapter for a wrist watch of the type having detachable diametrically opposed pintle bars, said adapter having .a central guard receiving member and side portions and being of a size to extend along one edge portion of the watch in spaced relation thereto and to position said side portions adjacent to the pintle bars of the watch, and rigid tubular members carried by said side portions and offset therefrom for receiving the said pintle bars.

9. An adapter for a wrist watch of the type having diametrically opposed pintle bars detachably in connection therewith between spaced lugs, said adapter having .a central guard attaching member and extensions at its ends and being of a size to position said extensions adjacent to the pintle bars, and rigid tubular members carried by said extensions and offset therefrom to receive the pintle bars and project between the said lugs, each of said tubular members being of a length to substantially occupy the space between the lugs of one of the pintle bars.

10. A holder for wrist watches of the type having pintle bars at diametrically opposite sides thereof, said holder having extensions and being of a size to position said extensions at diametrically opposite sides of the watch, each of said extensions having means for engaging one of said pintle bars.

STEWARD W. PERRY. 

